Valve for inflatable articles



July 22; 1952 T. w. WINSTEAD VALVE FQR INFLATABLE ARTICLES Filed Nov.20, 1946 z u a .IINVENTOR D m w W W s m m ATTORNEYS Patented July 22,1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,604,297 VALVE FOR. INFLATABLEARTICLES Thomas W. Winstead, Baltimore, Md. Application November 20,1946, Serial No. 711,001

Claims. 1

The present invention relates to valves and more particularly to an airvalve for inflated articles, such as air-mattresses, cushions, floatsand the like.

Articles of the above character usually consist of a hollow flexible bagadapted to be inflated for temporary use and, when not in use, deflatedso that it may be rolled or folded up into a compact bundle for carryingor storage. The bag is inflated through a filling opening which isequipped with closing means usually consisting of a valve arrangement bymeans of which the inflated pressure may be maintained or released atwill. Check valve arrangements, normally maintained close bydifferential in inflated and atmospheric pressures or by othermechanical means, have been proposed, but the valves heretofore proposedhave had several disadvantages, the principal of which is the necessityof supplemental means of holding the valve open while the article isbeing deflated. An air-mattress or float, for example, holds asubstantial volume of air and takes considerable time to deflate throughthe relatively small filling opening, and during this time the valvesheretofore proposed have had to be held open by the finger or byinsertion therein of a match stick or a similar implement. It istherefore one of the objects of this invention to provide a valve forinflatable articles which serves as a check valve during inflation,maintains the filling opening sealed while the article is inflated, butwhich may be manipulated to an open position and maintained in its openposition without the use of supplemental means for deflating thearticle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a valve of the abovecharacter which is contained inside of the article and provides asubstantially flush closure for the filling opening of the article.

A further object of the invention is to provide a valve of the abovecharacter which utilizes both the differential in inflated andatmospheric pressures and the tension force in the material of theinflated article for effecting a tight seal of the filling opening.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a flexible valveof the above character which is of one-piece molded design, is simpleand economical to manufacture, is easy to affix to the article, and ispositive and eflicient in operation.

To accomplish the above and other important objects and advantages, theinvention comprises generally a one-piece resilient valve element whichmay be molded from thermoplastic material and which consists essentiallyof a fiat circular disc having a central hollow hemispherical domecapable of being reversed and maintaining its reversed position, and aseries of ports adjacent the base of the dome. The disc is bonded at itsperiphery to the inner surface of a wall of an inflatable articlecentrally with respect to a filling aperture in the Wall so that thedome, in one position thereof, seats within the aperture and closes thesame and in a reversed position opens the aperture.

In the accompanying drawings there are shown preferred embodiments ofthe invention. It is to be understood, however, that the forms shown areby way of example only, and the invention is not to be construed aslimited to the specific forms shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmental transverse sectional view of an inflatableflexible article such as a float, air-mattress or the like showing oneform of valve according to this invention in position for deflating thearticle.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing the article inflatedand the valve in position for maintaining the inflated condition.

Figure 3 is a fragmental exterior plan view showing the inflatingaperture and valve.

Figure 4 is an interior plan view of the inflating valve and associatedpart of the article wall.

Figure 5 is a iragmental sectional view taken through the sealingopening and valve and showing the nozzle of a filling pump in theopening.

Figure 6 is a view in perspective of the embodiment of valve elementshown in Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a fragmental transverse sectional view through a modifiedvalve element and associated part of the inflatable article.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is shown in Figure 1a hollow, flexible, inflatable article, such as an air-mattress, floator the like, which may be made of thermoplastic sheet material, andwhich comprises upper and lower walls 2 and 3 bonded together at theirmarginal edges, as indicated at 4. The wall 2 is provided with a fillingaperture 5 adapted to receive a nozzle of an inflating pump 7, such asshown in Figure 5. The aperture 5 may be a simple punched hole butpreferably is formed with a peripheral bead 6.

Adapted to control the flow of air through the aperture 5 is a valveelement, indicated generally as 8, and which comprises a circular disc 9in the center of which is formed a hollow, generally erably of thickerwall section particularly in the base or equatorial region thereof, sothat when the dome is reversed or turned inside out, as will be furtherdescribed, the circumferential tension about the base of the dome,together with its substantially thick wall section, will cause it tomaintain its reversed condition even under the inflation air pressure inthe article. The ports I i may be either punched, or formed in themolding process, and may be located either in the disc 9 adjacent thebase of the dome, as shown in Figure 6, or in the dome itself adjacentits base, as shown in Figure 7.

The peripheral edges of the disc portion of the valve element is bonded,such as by heatseaming, to the inner surface of the wall Ieoncentrically with respect to the aperture 5'so that the dome I isaxially aligned with the aperture, and in the normal or molded conditionof the valve element, projects into the aperture to close the same, asseen in Figure 2.

When the article is to be inflated, the valve element 8 is in its normalor molded position and the nozzle of the inflating pump 1 is inserted inthe aperture 5. Air on the down or discharge stroke of the pump forcesthe dome slightly inwardly and enters the interior of the articlethrough the ports ll. The force of the air is insufficient, however, toreverse the dome and, on the up or suction stroke of the pump, the crownof the dome will be urged into sealing engagement with the mouth of thepump nozzle and function as a check valve for the discharge side of thepump.

When the article has been inflated to desired pressure, the pump nozzleis withdrawn and the valve dome will be urged upwardly into the aperture5 into tight sealing engagement with the rim of the aperture'bycombination forces created by differential in interior pressures P1 andatmospheric pressures PA which force the dome outwardly toward theaperture, and tension forces T in the wall of the inflated article whichtend to flatten the wall and thereby force the rim of the apertureinwardly toward the dome, as indicated diagrammatically in Figure 2. Itmight be mentioned that this latter force can be increased or decreaseddepending upon the height of the dome Hi. It may be seen also in Figure2 that, by virtue of the dome-aperture diameter ratio and thesubstantial wall thickness of the dome Hi, the top of the dome liessubstantially flush with the outer surface of the article and provides asubstantially flush closure for the aperture.

When it is desired to deflate the article, the dome I9 is simplyreversed or turned inside out to the position shown in Figure l bypushing inwardly on the dome with the finger. The dome, by itsconstruction, as set forth above, will hold this position and air willflow freely out of the article through the ports l l and the aperture 5.After the article is deflated, or before it is to be reinflated, thedome i0 is again reversed to its normal or inverted position. This isdone by pressing upwardly on the lower wall 2 of the article below thedome.

Although in the structure illustrated the valve 8 is formed as aseparate piece and bonded to the wall of the article beneath an apertureformed in its wall, it will be understood that an assembly consisting ofthe disc 9, dome I0 and a second disc having the aperture5 therein couldbe formed as an integral unit and secured into an appropriate openinginthe article wall without departing from the spirit of the invention.It

is to be understood also, that the valve element 8 could. be formed invarious other sizes and shapes, than those shown, so long as the dome orequivalent projection is capable of reversal and maintaining itsreversed condition.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention provides a cheaplyand simply made, and positively operating valve for inflatable flexiblearticles. It will serve efiiciently as a check valve while inflating,will provide an effective seal to maintain the inflated condition of thearticle, and which may be easily manipulated to rapidly deflate thearticle without the necessity 'of holding the valve opening bysupplementary means.

I claim:

1. A valve for inflatable articles of the character described comprisinga flexible wall having an'aperture therethrough, a flexible valveelement including a disc bonded about the periphery thereof to the innersurface of the wall surrounding said aperture, said disc having areversible hollow domed portion axially aligned with said aperture, saiddomed portion being movable in a normal position thereof in a directiontoward the aperture to close the same and movable in a reverseddirection to reverse the dome and open the aperture, the portion of thedisk located between the bonded periphery thereof and the dome being soconstructed and arranged as to be disposed away from the flexible wallwhen the domed portion occupies its normal position said domed portionin normal position making a substantially line contact with the wallabout said aperture, and port means in said element removed from theregion of the aperture to permit passage of air through said element.

2. A valve for inflatable articles of the character described comprisinga flexible wall having a circular aperture therein, a flexible valveelement including a circular disc bonded about the periphery thereof toa region of the inner surface of said wall concentric with said apertureand radially removed therefrom, said disc having a central, reversiblehollow dome, said dome being movable in a normal position thereof in adirection toward the aperture to close the same and movable in areversed direction to reverse the dome and open the aperture, theportion of the disk located between the bonded periphery thereof and thedome being so constructed and arranged as to be disposed away from theflexible wall when the domed portion occupies its normal position saiddome in normal position making a substantially line contact with thewall about said aperture, and port means in said element removed fromthe region of the aperture to permit passage of air through the element.

3. A valve for inflatable articles of the character described comprisinga flexible wall having a circular aperture therein, a flexible valveelement including a circular disc bonded about the periphery thereof toa region of the inner surface of said wall concentric with said apertureand radially removed therefrom, said disc having a central, reversiblehollow dome said dome being movable in a normal position thereof in adirection toward the aperture to close the same and movable in areversed direction to reverse the dome and open the aperture, theportion of the disk located between the bonded periphery thereof and thedome being so constructed and arranged as to be disposed away from theflexible wall when the domed portion occupies its normal position saiddome in normal position making a substantially line contact with saidwall about the aperture, port means in the disc radially removed fromthe aperture to permit passage of air through the element.

4. In a flexible, inflatable article of the character described, incombination with a wall thereof having a filling aperture therein, aflexible valve element comprising a circular disc bonded about theperiphery thereof to a region of the inner surface of said wallconcentric with said aperture and radially removed therefrom, said dischaving a central hollow reversible dome, said dome normally bulgingtoward the aperture and engaging said surface in substantially linecontact therewith about the aperture to close the same, the portion ofthe disk located between the bonded periphery thereof and the dome beingso constructed and arranged as to be disposed away from the flexiblewall when the domed portion occupies its normal position said dome beingreversible to extend inside the article and open the aperture bypressure applied externally of the article, and port means in theelement removed from the region of the aperture to permit passage of airthrough the element.

5. In a flexible, inflatable article of the character described, incombination with a wall thereof having a filling aperture therein, aflexible valve element comprising a circular disc bonded about theperiphery thereof to a region of the inner surface of said wallconcentric with said aperture and radially removed therefrom, said dischaving a central hollow reversible dome, said dome normally bulgingtoward the aperture and engaging said surface in substantially linecontact therewith about the aperture to close the same, the portion ofthe disk located between the bonded periphery thereof and the dome beingso constructed and arranged as to be disposed away from the flexiblewall when the domed portion occupies its normal position said dome beingreversible by pressure applied externally of the article to extendinside the same and open the aperture port means in the disc radiallyremoved from the aperture to permit passage of air through the element.

THOMAS W. WINSTEAD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,942,959 Fenton Jan. 9, 19342,044,913 Miller June 23, 1936 2,102,824 White Dec. 21, 1937 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 766,854 France of 1934

